college eats, week 2: eggplant parmesan

It's official. I have fallen in love.......with the Farmer's Market. I picked up two eggplant for $1 this Saturday from these nice Amish farmer-kids. Once I bought them, I immediately knew what I could concoct with them: eggplant parmesan.

WEIRD FACT #1: Eggplant start to get brown VERY VERY quickly after you slice them up! Why? I am not quite sure. I really should Wiki this later.

So my grandma makes some HOT DAMN GOOD eggplant parmesan. No joke. And she's told me how to prepare it a number of times, and I am always in awe of how easy it is to make! Simply slice, bread your eggplant, bake 'em till brown-ish, then layer them up with sauce and mozzarella. Yes, my friends, it is that easy. Even a caveman could do it.

WEIRD FACT #2: Michael's mom also makes some HOT DAMN GOOD eggplant parmesan....but with a different twist. She uses their fam's sauce for the layer-age, which has sausage in it sliced slightly thinly. I had never had eggplant parmesan with sausage in it before until Michael brought a tray of it over for us to eat one night. And wow.....was it good, or what. So if you feel the need to be carnivorous, feel free to add some sausage. It definitely won't do it harm.

Ohhhh, there it is, there it is! Isn't it lovely? Here's a close-up for your viewing pleasure:

Ohhhhhhh. Ahhhhhhhhh.

After I told my grandma how I had made the eggplant, I realized that I had forgotten a step in the process: peeling the eggplant. Whoops. Yay for eggplant parmesan with increased fiber. Anyway, the main concern was that it would be difficult, if not annoying, to eat with the skin on there, but a consultation with my Great Aunt Bernie proved otherwise. Apparently, Aunt Bernie never peels her eggplant before parmesaning-it up, so I am in good company because she is an amazing cook! I like to think that it was my inner Italian-cooking instincts that told me not to peel that purple veggie. :)

Yum, I can't wait to eat this. I'll be inviting Michael over to try it with me soon....I need a fellow Italian with me to enjoy eating eggplant parmesan. :)